Short Cuts

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This article is about the 1993 motion picture. "Short Cuts (TV series)" refers to the 2002 TV series.
Short Cuts
Directed by Robert Altman
Produced by Cary Brokaw
Written by Short stories:
Raymond Carver
Screenplay:
Robert Altman
Frank Barhydt
Starring Fred Ward
Andie MacDowell
Bruce Davison
Tim Robbins
Julianne Moore
Distributed by Fine Line Features
Release date(s) October 1, 1993
Running time 187 min.
Language English
IMDb profile

Short Cuts is a 1993 film directed by Robert Altman. Filmed from a screenplay by Robert Altman and Frank Barhydt, it is inspired by nine short stories and a poem by Raymond Carver. Substituting a Los Angeles setting for the Pacific Northwest backdrop of Carver's stories, the movie traces the actions of twenty-two principal characters, both in parallel and at occasional points of connection. The role of chance and luck is central to the film, and many of the stories concern death and infidelity. The film was distributed by Fine Line Features.

Contents

[edit] Plot

The film is made up of ten interwoven stories set in and around Los Angeles.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

In one of the film's opening scenes, Dr Ralph Wyman (Matthew Modine) and his wife Marian Wyman (Julianne Moore) meet another couple, Stuart and Claire Kane (Fred Ward and Anne Archer) at a concert and make a spontaneous Sunday dinner date, but both marriages show their cracks over the weekend. While Ralph and Marian Wyman avoid a taboo topic that is undermining their marriage, Stuart Kane goes on a fishing trip with some buddies (Buck Henry and Huey Lewis) and they discover a dead body in the water. Upon his return, Claire Kane is repulsed to discover that her husband did not report the discovery until after he and his friends finished fishing.

Meanwhile, waitress Doreen Piggot (Lily Tomlin), whose lout of a husband (Tom Waits) is a verbally abusive drunk, accidentally hits young Casey Finnigan (Zane Cassidy) with her car. When the little boy walks away from the accident, she assumes he is all right, and never learns the fatal consequences, or the tragic harassment his parents, Howard (Bruce Davison) and Ann Finnegan (Andie MacDowell) must face from the local baker, Andy Bitkower (Lyle Lovett) who is livid because a birthday cake they had ordered was not picked up. Howard's father, Paul Finnegan (Jack Lemmon) chooses the occasion of a hospital visit to his grandson to relate the story of his infidelities.

Doreen's daughter, Honey (Lili Taylor) is married to Bill Bush (Robert Downey, Jr.). Their party buddies, Lois (Jennifer Jason Leigh) and Jerry Kaiser (Chris Penn), face a toxic brew of phone sex and jealousy, as Lois earns her living as a phone-sex operator, while Jerry is left with a wife whose interest in sex is indifferent at best.

Gene Shepard (Tim Robbins) is an unethical cop who cheats on his wife, Sherri (Madeleine Stowe), and seems oblivious to the fact that his wife has long ago discovered his secret -- and just does not care. Gene's mistress is realtor Betty Weathers (Frances McDormand), and Sherri's ultimate confidante is her sister, Marian Wyman. These stories are woven together with musical bridges performed by Zoe (Lori Singer), a depressed cellist, and her embittered, jazz singer mother, Tess (Annie Ross), who live next to the Finnegans. By the end of the three-hour film, the Wymans and Kanes' Sunday dinner obligation turns into an all-night raging party, until everyone's lives are upended by a unifying Monday-morning disaster.

Sometimes the connections among characters are meaningful; other times, they bump into each other randomly in bakeries, bars, hospital waiting rooms, or mix-ups at the Fotomat. In a couple of instances, a moment is repeated, but with different characters and outcomes, emphasizing the role of fate.

A Short Cuts Soundtrack album was issued to accompany the film.

[edit] Awards and nominations

Robert Altman was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director and a nomination for the Golden Globe for Best Screenplay tied with Frank Barhydt. The cast won a Special Golden Globe Award for their ensemble acting. The movie also won the prestigious Golden Lion and the Volpi Cup for Best Ensemble Cast at the Venice Film Festival.

[edit] Cast

[edit] External links

Films directed by Robert Altman
The Delinquents  • The James Dean Story • Countdown • That Cold Day in the Park • MASH • Brewster McCloud • McCabe & Mrs. Miller • Images • The Long Goodbye • Thieves Like Us • California Split • Nashville • Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson • 3 Women • A Wedding • Quintet • A Perfect Couple • HealtH • Popeye • Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean • Streamers • Secret Honor • O.C. & Stiggs • Fool for Love • Beyond Therapy • Aria • Vincent & Theo • The Player • Short Cuts • Prêt-à-Porter • Kansas City • The Gingerbread Man • Cookie's Fortune • Dr. T & the Women • Gosford Park • The Company • A Prairie Home Companion
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